The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-08-11
DRINKING BEER.
A Brewery Employe Who Con-
sumes a Keg Per Day.
The Daily Record Per Man
From 25 to 100 Glasses.

the lager r-beer breweries in this city,
pointing to corpulent German work
man who was standing before the small
bar, which the proprietors of the brew
cry run for the exclusive benefit of their
employees.
eyes"
''Do you notice anything peculiar
about his appearance?"
"Nothing very remarkable. Why do
you ask9n
81 think he drinks more beer every
day than any other man in New York"
'He does't look like hard drinker."
'No more so than any of the rest of
our men, and he is not what you Ameri-
cans would call hard drinkcr. In the
fifteen years he has worked for us I have
never seen him drunk, but he will drink
on an average 100 glasses of beer a day.
That is just about keg of beer day.
Some days he will drink more and some
days less"
doesn't it hurt him9"
"It doesn't appear to. He has never
been away day on account of sickness
since have been here. When he comes
down in the morning, which is about 5
o'clock, his first act generally is to drink
ten or fifteen glasses of beer to clear his
throat for the day. Then, whenever he
feels thirsty he leaves his work for ans
other drink. This bar is kept entirely
for our men and our visitors. The bar
keepers have orders to give our men all
the beer they want whenever they want
it. If l see man leaving his work too
often I tell him to stay at the bar little
longer and take three or four glasses, in
stead CT running back and forth after
one glass each time. A few breweries
give their workmen tickets good for one
glass of beer each, but most concerns let
their men drink all they want without
counting the number. 1t makes the men
feel better and doesn't cost any more in
the long run"
"All of your men are not as heavy
drinkers as this man9''
''No, but there is very little difference
practically. An ordinary man would get
as drunk on 40 glasses of beer as on 100,
provided that he could hold that much
fluid. suppose the average is about 40
in this brewery. We have nearly 1875
workmen in this building and they drink
over 40 kegs day. As there are 10
glasses in keg, you can see that the av-
erage is not far from 40 glasses each.
We have about fifty drivers, but they get
most of their beer on their routes from
their customers. don't suppose there
is man here who drinks less than 30
glasses a day and there are half a dozen
who run over sixty"
GLOW do the men manage to stand
it so wcl?"
"Comc around the brewery with me
and I'll show you," said the foreman,
leading the reporter into large stone
floored room, where dozen or so
brawny workmen were washing a score
of beer kegs in shallow tub of scalding
water. "Just notice." he continued,
"the temperature of this room. 1t is 10
degrees hotter than it is outdoors.
Those men are wet through with per-
spiration. That is the way they work
off their beer. This isn't like walking
or working in the sun. There is no
danger of sunstrokes over that tub, and
they carry most of their beer home with
them in their dripping flannel shirts.
Now look down in the cellars with me, J"
went on the foreman, as he prepared a
brace of lighted candles and led the way
down several flights of stairs into the
great black cavern under the building.
The change in the temperature could
not have been more startling From
1O6 above zero it suddenly dropped to
80, and from the pipes which supplied
the cold air hung huge icicles. The
vaults were piled high with deep watts,
some filled with beer and some empty.
Into one of the latter workman was
seen working his way through hole
apparently too small to accommodate a
fraction of his girth. But such was the
yielding character of his corporosity
that the seeming miracle was accom-
plished without much difficulty, but
with very little room to spare. Once
indeed hose was handed him by his
companion and in few minutes he
wormed his way out again, leaving be-
hind him as clean vat as ever beer be-
soiled."
"This kind of work." explained the
foreman, ''admits of beer-drinking with
out danger. No chance of a man being
overcome with the heat down here. In
the wash-room the men drink beer to
keep cool. Here the men take it to
keep warm Now there is one place l
want to show you, where our men have
chance to work off their beer" con-
tinued the foreman as he conducted the
reporter through the winding passage
between the watts. up the stairs into
New York again, land that is our malt
room. !"
The malt-room is as high above the
ground as the vaults are down below it
and as hot as they are cold. Next to
the sun-scorched roof, there lie bushels
upon bushels of malt, and in sitting at
mosphere of dust and heat there were a
dozen men shovelling the grain into
barrows which were being wheeled to
the elevator that lowers them to the
boiler-room where the malt mixes with